Monday, December 23, 2013

This past week Southern Illinois mens basketball coach Barry Hinson went on a rant following their loss to Murray State. During his little tirade to the media, Hinson said he had a bunch of "mama's boys" on the team and his wife could make more baskets than his team.
This rant brings back memories of Allen Iverson's "practice", Jim Mora's "playoffs" and Herm Edwards' "We play to win the game" among others. Baseball, of course, is not immune to post game rants to the media. One of the most famous ones is authored by former Dodger manager Tom Lasorda in 1978.
Lasorda was asked of Cubs' Dave Kingman's performance against him that day. Kingman only hit three home runs with eight RBIs. You can hear the tirade here:

**warning: Not safe at work and parental discretion advised due to language

Saturday, December 14, 2013

One of the top singles currently is "Royals" by New Zealand teenager Lorde. Here is the song if you are not familiar with it:

During an interview , Lorde explains that part of the inspiration behind the song is a photo from an old National Geographic of a baseball player in a Kansas City Royals uniform signing baseballs for a group fans. She later explained that she took the word, "royal", and used as a theme of aristocracy for the song.
Here is the photo that inspired the hit song:

The photo, of course, is of Hall of Famer George Brett. I guess we could add one more hit to his career total.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

I am going to show off some of my Spartan pride and mention that MSU is Rose Bowl bound and Big Ten Champions.

1981 Topps

One of the stars of a past MSU Big Ten title team is Kirk Gibson. Gibson was an All American wide receiver of the 1978 team. MSU did not play in the Rose Bowl because they had to sit it out due to being on probation from the NCAA.
Gibson ended up being drafted in seventh round in the NFL draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. He fell in the draft mostly because of his baseball career. He played one year of baseball where he hit .390 16 home runs and 52 RBIs in 48 games. He was drafted in the first round by Detroit Tigers and had a fine MLB career winning two World Series titles.
His son, Cam, is a current member of MSU's baseball team.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

With free agent outfielder and former Red Sox Jacoby Ellsbury signing with the Yankees on Tuesday, it got me thinking of other players who played for both franchises. It is not a rarity. There has been more than 300 players who played for both sides of this heated rivalry.
Here is a position by position look at these players. I included Babe Ruth as an outfielder because he spent most of career as an outfielder and there are fewer outfielders than pitchers. Also, the middle infield is very weak compared to the rest. I picked one in each to fill out the roster and they were chosen only because they were starters on pennant winners.
Outfield:
Babe Ruth (Bos 1914-1919, NY(1920-34)
Rickey Henderson (NY 1985-89, Bos 2002)
Johnny Damon (Bos 2002-05, NY(2006-09)
Jackie Jensen (NY 1950-52 Bos 54-61): World Series Champ w/ NY and AL MVP w/ BOS
Duffy Lewis (Bos 1910-17 NY 1919-20): Babe Ruth wasnt the only star sold from Bos to NY that began the curse.

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About Me:

I am a lifelong baseball fan. Mostly a traditionalist but is open to new ideas. If it makes the game grow I am for it.So, if you can guess I don't like the designated hitter and not a fan of relief pitchers(the position is needed but the pitchers themselves are overrated). Absolutely hate domes and astroturf. I find the 3-2 game much more exciting than a 10-8 slugfest.